Joblessness still scars regions

The last quarter of 2013 saw a large fall in unemployment, official figures show. Under the Labour Force Survey count, the number of jobless was down by 125,000 to 2.34 million in the quarter ending December 2013 on the previous quarter. The unemployment rate was down to 7.2% from 7.6%.

The number of unemployed men was down by 65,000 to 1.33 million and their unemployment rate fell from 8.0% to 7.6%. The number of unemployed women was down by 60,000 to 1.02 million and their unemployment rate fell from 7.2% to 6.8%.

In some regions, however, unemployment rates are painfully high. The worst affected is the North East with a 10% rate, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at 8.6% and the West Midlands at 8.3%. Both the North West and London have an 8.1% unemployment rate.

On the other main jobless measure — the claimant count, which only includes those people on Jobseeker’s Allowance — unemployment fell by 27,600 to 1.22 million in January 2014. The joblessness rate fell to 3.6% from 3.7%.

Male claimant numbers fell by 19,600 on the previous month to 783,200. Their joblessness rate was down to 4.4% from 4.5%.The number of women benefit claimants fell by 8,000 to 432,500, but their joblessness rate was unchanged at 2.8%.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_350998.pdf